MTV Australia's New Awards Night

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Resetting the rules with new categories and viewer voting.

By Patrick Kolan

Earlier today, MTV Networks Australia's Managing Director, Dave Sibley, announced plans to launch a new awards ceremony for the music and entertainment channel in Australia. In time for the fourth annual ceremony, MTV Australia will be kicking off the 'MTV Australia Awards' – designed to replace the MTV Video Music Awards (VMA) concept.

Premiering Saturday, April 26, the first MTV Australia Awards will reset the traditional categories by creating ten new categories, spanning music, film, television and sports on a local and international level. It will also be a platform to spotlight viewer-generated content and current pop-culture trends.

The aim, according to Sibley, is to bring surprise and excitement back to award show celebrations. "MTV's audience expects us to shake things up and move away from what's expected in award shows. The MTV Australia Awards does just that, with a new blend of party, performance, unprecedented viewer interaction and expanded award categories."

Of those ten categories, seven will be decided through viewer feedback, while the remaining three – favourites in sports, film/TV actors and international talent – will be selected by MTV Australia to acknowledge their achievements and influence on the Australian MTV audience.

The new venue for the MTV Australia Awards.

This new process allows MTV to have a point of view, according to Sibley. This comes off the back of the recently announced partnership between MTV Australia and the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA). This partnership has provided with channel with quality Australian music content, while the next annual ARIA Awards will have backing from MTV.

At the launch event held in Sydney today, it was also announced that the new venue for the event would be the Australian Technology Park. The ATP was described as "gritty, urban and rock and roll" – combining all the aesthetic elements and space necessary to put on a world-class awards night. It will be a standing-only event with roughly eight live acts and will be broadcast live on Fox 8, rather than on free-to-air TV.